Let's Go Steal A Sidekick
by Daliastarr
Summary: Leverage Inc. may have bitten off more than they can chew with this con. While struggling to take down a corrupt and murderous CEO, the team stumbles upon an unlikely ally who insists he's from a different dimension. In order to pull off this job, the team will have to adapt to the impossible, the unbelievable, and the just plain crazy. The target: Future Industries.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hello Everyone. For those of you who don't know, I'm Daliastarr (duh it's in the story info) and this is the second story I'm posting on this site. I don't expect many views for this story because it is such a niche category, but I felt this was a fun idea and an interesting story so here I am! I will be honest and say that I don't expect to update this story regularly because it isn't my main project at the moment, but I do have a good chunk of this story already written out, and the rest is already planned so there shouldn't be anything drastic like months in between updates. Please Review. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I want to improve. Thank you and Enjoy!

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Johnathan Brown stood in the center of the lab, completely overwhelmed by the chaos surrounding him. All around him dozens of scientists, assistants, and engineers ran about double and triple checking every system; making sure every bolt was securely in place and that every computer was running perfectly. He could barely hear himself as he barked out orders to random workers who immediately rushed to fulfill his request. Nervousness and excitement pounded in his heart. The emotions clashed against each other causing a wave of nausea to overcome him. Everything was riding on this one moment, his only chance, if something went wrong now he would surely be demoted to mopping floors and dusting equipment like so many before him.

Up above him, behind three layers of bullet-proof, shatter-proof glass sat the people who held Jonathan's fate in their hands. Dressed in professionally pressed, individually tailored suits, and sitting on plush leather sofas while sipping the most expensive wine money could buy- these men could destroy his entire career with one flick of a wrist- A thought that made Jonathan's knees buckle slightly in fear. Currently, he could feel their skeptical stares piercing him even as they idly chit-chatted away about various other projects among themselves. In their eyes this experiment was already doomed to fail; a valid opinion considering the extremely outlandish nature of his project. Despite all this, Jonathan just knew everything would be just fine, and thus, he was so excited.

"Final systems check." Johnathan strained his voice to be heard over the whirling of machinery and hurried talk of workers. When all systems were reported to be working perfectly, Johnathan carefully picked up the microphone from his desk and addressed his audience. "Gentlemen, shareholders and supporters of Future Industries, I welcome you to the first demonstration of Project Expedition. Gentlemen, what you see today, could very well change the world as we know it."

With great vibrato, Johnathan gestured to the machine behind him. Twenty feet tall, and just as wide, Project Expedition most closely resembled a large gazebo than anything else. It consisted of a circular platform with six support beams which held in position the actual machine, which looked, from the outside, like a domed roof. Johnathan slowly stepped onto the circular platform and made his way to the small "x" under the contraption's "roof." Turning to once again face the observers, he produced a small box from his lab coat pocket. "Please watch the screen to my left and notice that this small device can be tracked anywhere from within this room and across the globe." Jonathan demonstrated this by pacing the platform floor a few times watching as a small red dot mimicked his movements on the large screen beside him. He then placed the box on the small "x" and stepped off the platform returning to his earlier position by his desk.

A wave of anxiety and anticipation washed over him as he gave the order to proceed. The loud sound of engines starting and the machine coming to life filled the room. The businessmen above him seemed to finally become interested in the demonstration below. The contraption's roof began to spin, and the floor started to radiate heat, but for many seconds, nothing else appeared to be happening. Finally the small box began to shake. It shook with increasing violence until the box's image split into many separate images, slowly fading until nothing remained and the machine stopped. The box had simply disappeared. Johnathan smiled. Everything was working perfectly.

"Gentlemen, what you have just witnessed is the first recorded act of teleportation. We have not yet determined where the teleported objects are sent, but as you can see, they are not sent anywhere on this earth, at least not anywhere we can detect." Johnathan once again gestured to the screen which displayed the distinct lack of a red dot on it's world map. "This crude form of teleportation does not allow us to decide where to send the objects, nor can this prototype handle the teleportation of larger objects; however, using the object's known chemical makeup and signature, we are able to target the last teleported object, and bring it back to its original point of teleportation. In this instance, we can bring it right back here."

Johnathan signaled for the retrieval. The machine once again came back to life, roof spinning as it should. An image began to appear on the platform, but it was much bigger than the box had been. The machine began to overheat, alarms began to sound, and the workers immediately went to stop the teleportation.

"NO! Keep going!" Johnathan screamed above the panic. He had too much riding on this demonstration to stop.

The machine began to buckle under the stress. It was not intended to teleport an object of this mass, whatever it was. A bolt flew loose nearly hitting an unlucky worker, but it was too late now. The teleportation must be carried through. The image of the object was clearer, though Johnathan still couldn't see what it was. Another loose bolt flew off and one support beam began to slide while another beam was crumbling under the pressure. Luckily, at that moment the image solidified and the machine stopped, floor steaming. The teleported object crumpled to the floor as the workers stared at it in awe.

What had come through the teleporter was not an object at all. It was a small boy! He couldn't have been older than 14, no older than Johnathan's own son, Max. The boy looked like he had gone through hell, which in a way, he might have. Burns, most likely from the hot surface on which he landed, covered what little exposed skin he could see. The kid was tanned, with black hair. Sunglasses covered the boy's eyes and his clothes were torn in many places. In his hand was the little box.

"It's a person!" Someone exclaimed. Breaking out of his trance, Johnathan raced to pull the boy from the scorching hot platform; medical teams following closely behind him.

As the medical team lifted the boy onto a stretcher, Jeremiah Brandwein, CEO of Future Industries burst through the laboratory door, screaming at the top of his lungs. "BROWN! What the Hell was that!"

"That kid, he must have grabbed hold of the box when it teleported, a-and come through with it." Johnathan trembled under his boss's wrath.

Brandwein seemed to consider this as the boy was carried off. There was a small clang as something fell out of the kid's pocket. Brandwein carefully picked it up and gaped at what he saw. It was an electronic device of some sort, though it looked like nothing more than a piece of glass between two metal rods. Some images flickered across the cracked glass briefly before they disappeared all-together.

"This is it!" Brandwein exclaimed. "This is what Future Industries has been waiting for! This technology surpasses any I've ever seen! Stuff like this will put Future Industries back on the map!" The CEO looked at the kid being carried away before quickly turning to a security personnel. "Search that kid for any other foreign technology. I don't know where he came from, but he just made me rich. Brown you're fired." He added the latter as an afterthought.

"Fired! But what about Project Exposition? It was a success. I've proved the concept of teleportation. There is still so much to do, and we need it to send the boy back! We don't even know where the box went. He might not even be from this world!"

"Your project is now nothing but scrap metal, it would cost millions to rebuild, and to do what? Send one lost little kid home? It's not worth it. Besides, if this kid has such advanced tech, chances are he knows how to work it, possibly even build it. I'm sure you understand."

"So you're keeping him from his home? His family? You're kidnapping him!" Johnathan accused angrily. "I won't let you get away with this!"

Brandwein sighed. "I expected as much. You always were so fond of your morals."

The CEO nodded to another security agent before turning to leave. The last thing Johnathan remembered was a loud bang, and then darkness.

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one last note: I find it very amusing that any version of the word "teleport" isn't recognized under any spelling on either this site or Word, especially in today's science-fiction cultural aspects. I don't know why but that fact seemed relevant.

PLEASE REVIEW!


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Hey! First off I would like to thank "Only If" for reviewing and following my story. However, I know not many people were able to navigate their ways through the back alleys of fanfiction to find this story, but those of you who did PLEASE PLEASE review! Review if you love it, if you like it, even if you hate it. Heck review even if you have know idea what's going on because you don't even know about one or both of these fandoms. Any constructive criticism, whether it be for characterization, plot, or just grammatical and spelling errors is welcome. Thanks for reading PLEASE REVIEW!

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"You have to understand, when my husband lost his job, we were desperate. When Future industries comes to us with this lucrative offer for one of Johnathan's crazy inventions we took it without a second thought. Johnathan was away for months at a time, and he was never aloud to talk about work, but we needed the money. And then yesterday, I received this in the mail." The woman held out a letter, tears forming in her eyes.

"Dear Mrs. Brown, We regret to inform you that your husband Johnathan H. Brown was killed January 13, 2013 at 2:36 in a laboratory accident. Due to the involvement of many toxic and acidic chemicals, the body will not be able to be released to you at this time. Our condolences, Jeremiah Brandwein, Future Industries." Nate read the letter out loud. "I'm sorry Mrs. Brown, but laboratory accidents do happen..."

"After I got this letter, I received a call from Future Industries. They said that because my husband never finished the project we wouldn't be paid, and since we were contracted rather than company employees, we aren't entitled to any compensation or settlement." Mrs. Brown interrupted, anger mixing with the grief in her voice. "The project Johnathan was working on didn't even involve these kinds of chemicals. There is no way he could have been involved in that kind of accident. Please help me Mr. Ford. I just want to know the truth."

Nate leaned back in his chair and ran his hand through his hair. He was going to regret taking this job. "What kind of project was your husband working on?"

* * *

"A Teleporter?" Elliot exclaimed disbelievingly. "Nate, are you out of your mind?!"

"Look. Whether or not Mr. Davis's uh... project was plausible, the events surrounding his death are admittedly still suspicious." Nate defended. He had expected his team to doubt taking this job.

"That may be, but you are saying this man was killed because he built a working teleporter?" Sophie questioned.

"I never said that." Nate replied quickly.

"Wait, teleporters are real?" Parker asked excitedly.

"I never said that either." Nate sat down, joining his team in front of the large screen in front of them.

"Teleportation just seems so...so science-fiction, it lacks the down to earth reality that makes things exciting. It's just to far-fetched to be real." Sophie continued.

Nate sighed, he was really regretting taking this job. He could only hope that he wasn't about to embark on a chase for an insane killer. "Hardison, why don't you tell us what you've found."

"How come I don't have a teleporter?" Nate heard Parker mumble to Sophie.

"OK listen up boys and girls, you're going to need to go back to sci-fi 101 for this case." The ever sarcastic hacker smiled. At least Hardison was enjoying this case, Nate noticed. "Future Industries loves to work on the impossible, and I mean impossible. They've tried to build everything from super soldier serum to death rays. None of these projects have been a success. They're also in deep financial doo-doo. They have a line of cheap electronic devices which is barely keeping them afloat, but if they don't start making more money soon, they could go belly up. Which brings me to this guy," A photo of a middle-aged man took center stage on the screen. The man had graying brown hair which was slicked back in a very business-like manner. His face seemed to be frozen in a perpetual frown, and his suit obviously cost a small fortune. "Jeremiah Brandwein. This guy will do anything to put Future Industries on the scientific map. He would run over his grandma's toes with a shopping cart if he thought it would give Future Industries an extra dollar."

"So, he want's to make money, yet he keeps spending money on stupid projects like death rays?" Elliot scoffed.

"It's not just about the money. Brandwein wants the fame that comes with ground-breaking discoveries. That's why he keeps hiring people who claim to be able to build things right out of Star-trek. If they don't deliver, he gets scary. Everyone who's ever failed on a project under him-which is practically everybody- has ended up loosing everything, and then he publicly renounces them, ruining their reputations as well." Hardison continued.

"Yes," Nate interjected, "But this is the first time anyone has ever died under his watch, and if Mrs. Brown was right, and the death wasn't accidental..."

"Oh, it definitely wasn't accidental, I found the blueprints for Project Expedition- Future Industries pet name for our teleporter- there were no chemicals involved at all, nor in any other projects future industries was currently working on. Our guy shouldn't have been anywhere near anything toxic or acidic in the past four years."

"Is it possible that Dr. Brown actually completed the project?" Sophie asked, though clearly expecting a negative answer.

"I don't know." Nate watched as a smile crept onto Hardison's face. "But I do know that on January 13th, Brown was scheduled to demonstrate Project Expedition in front of all Future Industries' shareholders."

"So, this tele-whatever works and Brandwein kills Brown in order to take all the credit, and then covers it up by saying it was a lab accident?" Parker raised her hand and asked skeptically.

"No," Nate stood up walking over to Hardison keeping his eyes on the picture of Brandwein. "If this was all about the teleporter, Brandwein would have the discovery all over the news by now. He must have stumbled on something bigger, something more valuable that he had to kill Johnathan Brown to keep it a secret."

"What could be more valuable than a teleporter?" Elliot was quick to ask the question on everyone's mind.

Nate just smiled. "Let's go steal a secret."

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REVIEW!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey Guys. Thanks everyone for being patient with me these last few weeks, my schedule isn't unfortunately calming down, but I will try to go back to having a more regular update schedule. That being said, something very interesting happened to me on this site a few weeks back. I Favorited a story but didn't review. The author actually PM'd me calling me out on that fact. I naturally felt so guilty for not reviewing that I went back and wrote that author a novel of a review. So, unless you want me to start doing that, PLEASE REVIEW! Your input is always welcome. Lastly, This story, though not finished was originally meant to be a very long one-shot. It got too long so I've decided to make it a multi-chapter story so this particular part of the story may seem a bit odd in how it is broken up, but there was no real good place to cut it off. I've decided to post two chapters to allow the plot to flow better so I hope that helps.

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Richard "Dick" Grayson, a.k.a. Robin, was utterly confused and on the verge of freaking out and doing something seriously stupid. One moment he was sitting in Mount Justice seeking refuge from his guardian's guilt ridden attempts at apologizing for the disastrous events at The Watchtower two weeks ago, and the next, he's waking up in a makeshift hospital room being treated for burns he didn't know how he got, and feeling like he hadn't eaten in days. These people had taken his phone, watch, and most alarmingly, his utility belt. Hence why Dick was distraught, heavy on the dis.

Currently, the Boy-Wonder was sitting behind, what appeared to be, an interrogation table. The metal table was cold underneath his hands, and the windowless white room was seriously giving him the impression these guys were not friendly. Dick decided to nervously swing his legs to release some pent up anxiety._ Get traught Grayson,_ he thought to himself, _You're probably just on the wrong side of the planet... or the multi-verse._ Not a comforting thought.

The metal door to his left opened and in walked a man with a professionally tailored suit and slicked back hair. A businessman, not a cop. This was a bad sign.

"What's your name boy?" The man asked with forced kindness, taking the seat opposite Dick's. He spoke English with an obviously American accent and he didn't recognize the face of Richard Grayson. This was not unheard of, even among money, but it was a very bad sign for still being on his world.

"You first." Dick countered. He seriously didn't like this man.

"Jeremiah Brandwein." The man smiled unconvincingly, "And you?"

Dick was torn, the possibility of him even being on his own world was seemingly less every second. He had been at Mount Justice wearing his Robin civilian clothes and his Robin sunglasses, and Robin's utility belt. The people coming to look for him would be looking for Robin, but his sunglasses were gone now and his identity exposed. Which was easier to explain: why Richard Grayson had Robin's belt, or why Robin looked a hell of a lot like Richard Grayson?

"Robin." He decided finally. He could always have J'ohn or M'gann do a mind-wipe later.

"Robin…" The man, Brandwein probed for a last name.

"Just Robin."

"Well 'Just Robin,'" Brandwein laughed humorlessly. "Where are you from?"

"Gotham."

"Gotham." The man repeated. He obviously hadn't heard of Gotham before, meaning Dick was defiantly a little farther away from home than a plane ride. "Where are your parents?"

"Dead." Dick received no sympathy from the man across the table, if anything Brandwein seemed to become happier. "Where am I?"

"You don't know?" The Man asked in a bored manner. Dick really didn't like this guy.

"Haven't seen a window since I got here. Are you the police?" Brandwein seemed to be caught off guard. Robin smirked. "Didn't think so. My guardian deals with the police a lot. Plus, I saw a billboard on the way in. Future Industries? You guys seem to deal with a lot of crazy stuff here. I think I saw a design for a freeze ray on that billboard, which was completely wrong by the way. I'm guessing you're in charge judging from your poor taste in expensive clothing."

"Is your 'guardian' training you to be some sort of Jr. sleuth or something?" Despite the man's calm outside demeanor, Dick could hear the slight nervousness in his voice.

"Or something." Dick mumbled. "Let me tell you my theory. One of your crazy inventions finally worked, and sent me a small package. I pick it up. You try to bring it back, accidentally taking me along for the ride. You took away all my toys which leads me to believe that my tech is more sophisticated than yours, and you don't know about Gotham, which leads me to believe I'm not on my world anymore."

"You talk about dimensional travel as if it's an everyday occurrence." Brandwein was clearly excited. This was not the reaction Dick had expected.

"More common than one would expect." Dick did not like where this conversation was headed.

"I have a proposition for you, Robin." Crap. "Do you know what this is?" Brandwein Produced Dick's phone from inside his jacket pocket.

"My phone." Dick replied warily. "It's broken."

"Can you fix it?"

"If I snapped your phone in half could you fix yours?"

"What about that neat belt of yours, is that broken too? Or do we just not know how to open it?"

Robin remained silent, glad that Brandwein at least hadn't gotten into his more delicate equipment.

"My proposition is this: I will do everything in my power to send you home, and, in return, you will share some of your 'toys' with us."

"Can I have some time to think about it?" Dick asked through gritted teeth.

"Take all the time you need, Robin." Brandwein said standing up and heading towards the door. "Just remember: you're not in Kansas anymore."

"For your information Mr. Brandwein, Gotham is in New York." Dick quipped.

Dick watched as the metal door shut and he was once again left alone with his thoughts. Dick highly doubted Brandwein had any intention of sending him back home, or if he even could. Dick needed to get out of here soon, but without his belt or gloves, and no knowledge of the security, his chances of success were drastically reduced. He was in some deep...

* * *

Shit! Elliot thought as he took down the first security guard that had come around the corner quickly turning to fight the other. "DAMN IT, HARDISON! You said you took out the security system."

"I did." Hardison's voice buzzed in Eliot's ear. "We didn't set off any alarms. Someone inside must have alerted the guards."

"No one saw us Hardison!" Eliot grunted taking down the second guard with a punch. "You must have slipped up on the security system." Two more guards rounded the corner and charged at Eliot.

Elliot tried to ignore Hardison's whiny defensive comments as he struggled with his two new dance partners, who, unlike the first two, had decided to work together against Eliot. A tactic that was proving to be very effective. Suddenly a high pitched scream rang through the ear com's, causing Eliot to stumble backwards allowing guard #1 to get in a few punches.

"Parker are you OK?" Nate's worried voice shortly followed.

"I'm fine." Parker replied through heavy breaths. "Just got a little startled."

"Nate!" Eliot called out while blocking a punch from guard #2, "These guys just keep coming."

"Everyone pull out!" Nate's voice once again rang out. Elliot knocked out guard #1. "The con's a failure we'll try again later."

"No." Parker protested. "I'm close to the server room. I just have to attach this little box right?" There was a moment of silence where Eliot briefly thought something bad had happened again. "I'll meet you guys at the rendezvous."

Silence was the only response to the team's pleas for her to abandon the job. Eliot quickly knocked out guard #2, briefly entertaining the Idea of finding their thief. Unfortunately, he didn't know the way to the server room. His job was to search the warehouse for any sign of Dr. Brown's invention, at least it was until Hardison screwed up with the cameras. Reluctantly, he set off towards the rendezvous hoping Parker knew what she was doing.

Two wrong turns and four guards later, Eliot finally arrived at the rendezvous. No one else had made it yet. Hardison quickly yelled that he was on his way, but there was still no sign of Parker.

"Parker! Parker where are you?"

"Here." Eliot's question was not answered through the coms, but rather from her voice down the hallway. She turned the corner just as Hardison pulled up in Lucile. Right on her heels was a small boy wearing what Eliot believed to be Kevlar gloves and a yellow belt draped around the kid's shoulder like a sash. Both were running fast towards Eliot

Elliot had barely a moment to comprehend the situation before five armed guards came down the hallway. The second Parker reached Lucille, she jumped in with Eliot one step behind her. The Kid stopped dead in his tracks upon reaching the van glancing back at the guards, clearly unsure of what to do. Before the boy could make a decision, Parker grabbed his arm and pulled him inside the van. Eliot quickly closed the doors and screamed for Hardison to "step on it."

"That was almost a disaster." Parker said once they were safely away from the warehouse.

"Heavy on the dis." The kid added.

Eliot, not in the mood for humor, pointed at the boy, "Parker, what's with the kid." In response the boy held up his hands in mock surrender. Elliot really hated this job.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Here's the second half of the last chapter, it just seemed too long to make one chapter, so this chapter might seem a bit short as well. Please review for both chapters thank you.

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Robin could not believe his luck! These guys at Future industries were extremely gullible. Robin let out his signature cackle as he dropped two smoke pellets to the floor blinding everyone in the room. Quickly picking them up, _No need for any of these guys to reverse engineer any of Bat's tech_, Robin hopped on the table and pulled himself into the ventilation system. _Robin-sized for your convenience_, he joked to himself and began to crawl in a random direction he thought back to his completely asterous acting back in the interrogation room.

Dick had agreed to show Brandwein how to work his belt and the fool had brought it right to him. The first thing he had done is opened the pouch containing his extra pair of sunglasses. This pouch had a simple latch that Brandwein had admitted to being able to open. He put on the sunglasses after explaining to the disappointed businessman that there was nothing special about these glasses. The next pouch he had opened contained his holo-gloves which he once again proclaimed were nothing special.

At this point Brandwein had demanded that Dick show him something more advanced. Dick had smiled slipping on his gloves and placing the belt over his shoulder. He simultaneously slipped completely into his Robin persona, and Robin only smiled as he performed his Gotham-famous disappearing act.

Now crawling through the vents, Robin was disappointed to find that there were no computer access terminals inside the shafts. Thinking back to his world, he wondered why villains even bothered with that in the first place. Luckily, no alarms had gone off, and Robin thanked whatever being had blessed him with this gift. Unfortunately, Robin still needed to know how to get out of this building, which meant he needed a computer. Thus, he was forced into stopping at every vent covering in hopes of spotting an unmanned computer or possibly the server room.

Coming up to the next vent, Robin placed his hand on the shaft which creaked as he did so. _Crap, it's loose, I can't get across_. The Boy-Wonder was calculating his options when a woman came through the vent from the other direction. Seeing him must have startled her, because she lurched upwards hitting her head on the vent's ceiling. In her pain, she failed to notice the loose tile in front of her and placed all her weight on the traitorous vent. The piece tore away from the rest of the vent, and the woman screamed as she fell. Instinctively, Robin reached out to catch her and pulled her onto the structurally sound portion of the vent.

"I'm fine. Just got a little startled." The woman said to no one in particular while sending Robin a thankful look.

_ So she has friends_, Robin thought.

"No. I'm close to the server room. I just have to attach this little box right?" The woman continued. The sounds of people coming to the broken vent reached his ears. He quickly pulled the woman around the corner, and instinctively covered her mouth.

"Nothin'." A man's voice rang out after a moment. "He's probably long gone by now. Keep searchin'."

Robin waited a few moments to be certain the coast was clear before removing his hand from the woman's mouth.

"I'll meet you guys at the rendezvous." The woman whispered softly.

Robin moved out of the way to let her past, and the woman continued on at a much faster pace. Robin followed her. She must know the way out, and she was headed to the server room. It was a double win.

If the woman was uncomfortable with her new follower, she certainly didn't show it. She never increased her pace and paused only briefly at a few turns, most likely trying to remember the way. After a few minutes, the woman stopped at a vent and kicked it out, gracefully landing on the floor below. Robin was impressed as he quickly followed suit.

The woman held out a small black box, unsure of what to do with it. Robin immediately recognized the technology, and grabbed it from her had. She started to protest until Robin attached it to the server as it was supposed to be. He discreetly attached his own bug onto the box that would allow him to tap into the device later, just in case.

Robin again followed her out of the server room, into the hallways taking note of how she was following the same path she had taken in the vents. Turning into the room with the broken vent, they were met by a lone security guard, who was obviously unprepared for a fight of any kind. Robin vaulted over a desk using the woman in front of him as a makeshift springboard, flipping in the air and delivering a hard kick to the security guard's face, knocking the man out instantly. Old habits die hard. He proudly smiled at the woman who was frozen in awe at the move he had just demonstrated.

Shouts of more guards sent both of them running, Robin once again falling in step behind the woman. Glancing behind him he saw five guards hot on their tail, and pushed the pace faster. Another corner revealed an Exit, and a man blocking it. Although, Robin noticed, This man seemed to be edging them on and willing them to go faster.

A van pulled up behind the man and Robin's impromptu partner raced for it. Within seconds both she and the other man had jumped into the back of the van. Robin paused, skeptical about jumping into a van with strangers and not sure if he'd be welcome anyways. Looking back at the five guards racing towards them, Robin considered taking them on. He had no doubt he could take five men, but he didn't know how fast others would follow, and contrary to popular belief, Robin could not defeat a small army by himself.

Before Robin could make his decision, he was wrenched from his spot and into the van. The van skidded away to safety. Robin was impressed by the computer system that lined the walls of the van. Obviously these people had a skilled hacker on this team of theirs. Robin once again placed a bug on the console he was leaning against. He should have access to the system within minutes.

"That was almost a disaster." The woman said breaking the silence.

"Heave on the dis." Robin added out of habit.

"Parker, what's with the kid." The man from earlier pointed at Robin. Robin in turn raised his hands in a mock surrender; a not so innocent smirk plastered on his face.

"He saved me twice back there, and those men would have pulverized him." Robin gave a grunt in protest to her comment. "We couldn't just leave him behind."

"What is this I'm hearing about a kid in my van?" Another new voice called from the drivers seat. A young African man looked over the back of the drivers seat and sighed. "Aw man. Nate are you hearing this?" There was a quick pause, probably where this "Nate" person answered. "We're on our way." The driver spoke again.

Robin settled into a seated position in the corner of the van. Now that his adrenaline levels were slowly declining, Robin turned a more thoughtful eye to his new kidnappers. Robin was not naive, these people were obviously criminals no matter how nice they seemed and he doubted they were going to just let him walk away.

The woman, Parker, as she had been identified, strongly reminded him of Artemis, with her long blond hair and defiant attitude. Robin assumed that she was the thief and grease-man of the team based on the abilities she had demonstrated earlier. The man sitting opposite Robin reminded him of Conner. He had long brown hair and was extremely muscular. He was probably the hit-man of the team. Finally, the driver. He had claimed the van to be his, and from Robin's brief glance of him the man didn't seem overly muscular. He must be the hacker. Robin assumed that "Nate" was the leader from the way the hacker had talked to him, but he couldn't be sure until he met the man.

The hitter stared at Robin with clear distrust in his eyes. Robin smiled at him, knowing it would probably annoy the man, before staring out at nothing for the rest of the drive.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Hey everybody! Here it is: Chapter 5. I've got nothing else to say really. Read. Review. Enjoy!

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When Hardison pulled up to the back of the bar in Lucille, Nate wasn't sure what to expect. He had heard his team's conversation and knew that apparently some "kid" had saved Parker when the job had gone south, but Nate knew that Eliot sometimes viewed Hardison as a "kid." Therefore, with all the different scenarios Nate had played out in his mind, he never expected for a young boy, no older that 13, to barrel out of the van, begin to stretch over dramatically and scream to the sky, "Fresh Air at last!"

The boy began to fall backwards as if flopping down on a bed or couch. Nate instinctively rushed out to catch the kid before he hurt himself, knowing he wouldn't get there in time. Luckily, Eliot caught him before the boy had tilted half-way over.

"I wouldn't have fallen." The boy protested as Eliot pulled him back upright.

"When you said you were bringing home a kid," Sophie stated disbelievingly, "I didn't think he'd actually be..."

"A kid?" The boy finished for her appearing suddenly at their side. Nate nearly jumped, he hadn't seen the boy come up to them. "Don't worry," The boy smiled. "I get that a lot."

"How old are you anyway?" Eliot asked as he joined the group along with Parker and Hardison. Nate knew the harshness in his voice was only to mask the worry he had for the kid. "You can't be older than 12."

"I'm 13, thank you very much." The kid replied with a friendly amount of sass, which caused Sophie to giggle. The kid was about to say something else, when his stomach let out a very audible growl. He smiled sheepishly while placing his hand on his stomach clearly embarrassed.

"Wow when's the last time you've eaten." Parker asked jokingly.

"A couple days, I don't know. That Brandwein guy wasn't to keen to feed me back there." The kid replied.

Brandwein? What could this kid possibly have to do with Brandwein? Had the kid been kidnapped? Nate watched as his team's faces morphed into various degrees of anger and horror. Both Sophie and Eliot seemed ready to Jump back in the van and head off to kill Future Industries CEO; and though he would have happily joined them, Nate knew he needed to diffuse the situation before anyone made a rash decision.

"Why don't we take this inside and get you something to eat." Nate suggested. "And then you can tell us all about what happened at Future Industries." Nate for one was very interested in how this kid got mixed up with a guy like Brandwein.

* * *

The more Eliot watched the kid perched on top of the bar, the more confused he became. The kid was dressed like any normal teenager, with his dark jeans, green t-shirt and black jacket; but he was also sporting Kevlar gloves- which Eliot was sure were meant for combat- and an odd yellow utility belt draped across his shoulder. The kid hadn't even attempted to take any of these things off. Nor had he complained about the many cuts, bruises, and burns decorating his body. Instead he'd only politely remarked. "I'd ask for a change of clothes but I doubt any of you have something that would fit."

Also, even though the kid's eyes (or eyebrows really: his eyes were hidden behind a pair of tinted shades) lit up like it was Christmas when Eliot set the large plate of food in front of him, the kid carefully watched the amount of food he was eating. This worried Eliot, because no matter how childish and normal this kid acted, every small detail screamed to Eliot that this kid was trained, and that he'd been in these situations before.

After the kid had finished eating- making the excuse that he must not have been as hungry as he'd thought to explain the extra food on his plate- Nate had predictably asked for the kid's name.

"Robin." Was the kid's simple response.

Nate had then taken the liberty of introducing the team to Robin before prying into his presence at the Future Industries warehouse. Robin had taken a deep breath before explaining his story, cautiously revealing his belief that he was stranded in another dimension, a topic Eliot still wasn't sure he believed. Elliot was also angry over the fact that Brandwein had apparently kidnapped Robin to steal his more advanced technology, other-dimensional or not. If there was one thing Eliot hated more than anything else, it was Adults taking advantage of, and abusing kids.

"...and then I ran into Miss Parker, and voilà, here we are." Robin finished his story with a wide dramatic sweep of his hands. Elliot was slightly impressed at how the kid had managed to escape himself.

"That's quite an impressive story." Nate remarked.

"He didn't tell it right." Parker complained completely oblivious to the poisonous looks Robin was shooting her. "He saved me from falling through the ceiling, and he helped me attach that box-thingy to the server, and then he took out this one guard with a twirly-flippy-kick-thingy." Parker became more and more animated with every word. "You didn't tell it right. He didn't tell it right."

The group turned to once again face the scrawny teen, who squirmed a bit under their gazes. Eliot had a hard time imagining this little kid taking out full grown men with one kick, but he had never known Parker to lie.

"So in your own world, you live in America?" Sophie inquired with a mix of curiosity and skepticism.

"Yep, I live in Gotham with my guardian."

"So you are American?" Sophie continued.

"Romani." Eliot interjected, watching the kid's expression to confirm his guess. "He may have gained an American accent, but you can still hear the Romani accent underneath it. Especially with the way he pronounces his..."Eliot trailed off under the team's blank stares. "It's a very distinctive accent!" He snapped.

"I didn't know it was that distinctive." The kid laughed. Robin then let out a large yawn. "Man, I'm pooped. Didn't know being out cold for a few days could make you so sleepy. Is there anywhere I can rest?"

"We have a spare bed upstairs." Sophie immediately jumped up to show him the way. Robin quickly fell into step behind her.

"G'night" the kid playfully called over his shoulder. Despite Robin's cheery attitude, Eliot could see the tenseness in his shoulders, how his hands always remained close to his belt, and how despite his alleged tiredness, the boy was very awake and very aware of everything around him. Eliot didn't know what would make a young boy act like a trained hitter, but when he found out, whoever was responsible would be very sorry.


End file.
